Pakistani

Faced with outrage from a key ally, the U.S. military on Thursday released footage of a clash between coalition forces and Taliban militants that Pakistan alleges killed 11 of its soldiers. The unusual move by military officials was clearly designed to soothe anger in Pakistan and to bolster their account of what happened in the rugged Afghan-Pakistani border region on Tuesday, when American warplanes dropped bombs during a pitched battle with militants. The Pakistani army says the airstrike was an "unprovoked and cowardly act" that killed its paramilitary soldiers; the U.S. military insists its forces acted within accepted rules of engagement and launched the strike in self-defense.

In the United States, school principals punish students for skipping class. In Pakistan, the Taliban punishes girls for attending class. Last week, Talaban militants hunted down and shot 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai in the head and neck as she rode the bus home from school, in retaliation for her outspoken advocacy of girls' education. Taliban officials quickly took responsibility for the shooting and said she would not be spared if she survived. A Taliban spokesman said afterwards that she was targeted "because of her pioneer role of preaching secularism and so-called enlightened moderation.

Last Friday's U.S. missile attack in Pakistan apparently killed four leading al-Qaida figures, including the group's most prominent chemical weapons and bomb designer, Pakistani officials said Thursday. The announcement strengthened indications that the CIA, which reportedly conducted the attack, successfully hit a high-level meeting of militants from al-Qaida and other groups. The missile attack, on the village of Damadola, drew condemnation in Pakistan against the United States and President Pervez Musharraf because it killed between 13 and 18 civilians, including women and children.

The Army has decided not to punish three officers for their role in a deadly U.S. firefight in Afghanistan, reversing the findings of an independent probe and angering the parents of the dead soliders, along with Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va. Webb said Wednesday he finds it "deeply troubling that the Army has exonerated these officers and in the process rejected the findings of an independent review." Webb had requested the review. Families of soliders killed during the July, 13, 2008, battle said they were briefed Wednesday on the decision not to reprimand the officers, the Associated Press reported.

Last week brought the beginning of one tale of terrorism and the end of another. In New York City, two men were convicted of conspiring to bomb the World Trade Center. The 1993 blast killed six people and injured 1,000. The two men convicted Wednesday, Ramzi Yousef and Eyad Ismoil, had hoped to kill a quarter-million people by toppling the two 110-story towers. Four others had already been convicted in the case. Also on Wednesday, four Americans were shot to death in Karachi, Pakistan.

BORDER SECURITY TO TIGHTEN SOON Two weeks from now, a driver's license won't be good enough to get Americans past a checkpoint at the Canadian or Mexican border. And Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff predicted that the new border-crossing rules will mean longer lines, too. More on A17 SCIENTISTS CLONE HUMAN EMBRYOS Scientists at a California company reported Thursday they had created the first mature cloned human embryos from single skin cells taken from adults.

A suicide bomber destroys an official's car outside the Karachi consulate. The explosion also kills three others. A suicide bomber rammed his car into a U.S. diplomatic vehicle in Karachi on Thursday, killing an American official and three other people. That attack, a day before President Bush's planned arrival in Pakistan, underscored the tensions around Bush's visit to a country whose leader is a key U.S. ally but whose population is increasingly anti-American. Before 9 a.m., a bearded man in the traditional Pakistani loose tunic and trousers drove a white Toyota Corolla into an alley behind the Karachi Marriott Hotel that leads toward a side gate of the consulate next door, Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said.

The Hindu ascetic was halted for lack of a passport, but he still plans to meet the Pakistani president. After more than 1,500 miles, Ludkan Baba -- the Hindu ascetic who's rolling across India for peace -- was rebuffed at the Pakistani border and suspended his quest. The holy roller decided Friday to return to his hometown of Ratlam with his 11-member hymn-singing entourage to wait for India's government to issue passports. Indian border guards turned back the man whom admirers call Ludkan Baba, or the Rolling Saint, because he did not have valid travel documents.

Madelyn Davis, 10, hit the "send" button on a computer at Arlington County's Patrick Henry Elementary School, and an e-mail from her fifth-grade class made its way to a Dawood Public School classroom in Karachi, Pakistan. The e-mail -- containing such student questions as "I speak two languages, Spanish and English. How many languages do you speak and what are they?" -- helped usher in President Bush's Friendship Through Education Initiative, meant to foster relations between American schoolchildren and their counterparts in Islamic countries in the midst of the U.S. war on international terrorism.

The cricket season is over but the camaraderie continues for these Indian and Pakistani teams Cricket in Richmond? Not crickets, the noisy bugs. Cricket -- the game. As in sticky wickets and bowlers and batsmen. The Pardesi Cricket Club battled the Barbarian Cricket Club this week in a season-end tournament championship game played on a Henrico County elementary school field. Barbarian took top honors, winning with 114 runs to Pardesi's 110 runs. The winner took home the Curry House Tournament trophy, named for the sponsoring business.

Faced with outrage from a key ally, the U.S. military on Thursday released footage of a clash between coalition forces and Taliban militants that Pakistan alleges killed 11 of its soldiers. The unusual move by military officials was clearly designed to soothe anger in Pakistan and to bolster their account of what happened in the rugged Afghan-Pakistani border region on Tuesday, when American warplanes dropped bombs during a pitched battle with militants. The Pakistani army says the airstrike was an "unprovoked and cowardly act" that killed its paramilitary soldiers; the U.S. military insists its forces acted within accepted rules of engagement and launched the strike in self-defense.

BORDER SECURITY TO TIGHTEN SOON Two weeks from now, a driver's license won't be good enough to get Americans past a checkpoint at the Canadian or Mexican border. And Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff predicted that the new border-crossing rules will mean longer lines, too. More on A17 SCIENTISTS CLONE HUMAN EMBRYOS Scientists at a California company reported Thursday they had created the first mature cloned human embryos from single skin cells taken from adults.

Pakistani native Nadia Faiz was working at Bank of America on Warwick Boulevard early Thursday when she received a call with the news: Benazir Bhutto had been assassinated. "No way," said the shocked Williamsburg resident, who moved to the United States in 1994 after a lifetime of watching the Bhutto family on the political scene. Her devastation echoed that of other Pakistani-American residents in Hampton Roads as they learned of the targeted suicide bombing that killed Bhutto, Pakistan's former prime minister.

Tens of thousands of cheering, chanting supporters showered former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif with rose petals as he triumphantly returned from exile Sunday, posing a thorny new challenge not only to President Pervez Musharraf but also to pro-Western opposition leader Benazir Bhutto. Sharif's comeback, just 11 weeks after he was summarily deported by Musharraf, the military leader who once overthrew him, marks a complex new phase in the political turmoil that has gripped the nuclear-armed country, a key U.S. ally, for much of the year.

By foot, bus and bicycle, thousands of fervent followers of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto converged Wednesday, preparing to welcome her home Thursday from eight years of exile. Bhutto's expected return to this sprawling, chaotic port city that was her birthplace adds a complex new dimension to President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's months-long struggle to retain power. She and the general have reached agreement on some elements of a power-sharing alliance, but deep mistrust persists on both sides.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf decided Thursday against declaring a state of emergency, hours after senior officials in his government said such a step was under consideration. An emergency declaration would have given the Pakistani leader, who is beset by plummeting popularity and the worst political troubles of his eight-year rule, sweeping powers to suppress dissent, muzzle the media and put off elections. Some analysts speculated that talk of an emergency declaration was leaked by Gen. Musharraf's aides in order to gauge international and domestic reaction to the prospect of authoritarian rule in Pakistan, which is considered an essential if problematic U.S. ally in the war against Islamic insurgents in Afghanistan.

The Army has decided not to punish three officers for their role in a deadly U.S. firefight in Afghanistan, reversing the findings of an independent probe and angering the parents of the dead soliders, along with Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va. Webb said Wednesday he finds it "deeply troubling that the Army has exonerated these officers and in the process rejected the findings of an independent review." Webb had requested the review. Families of soliders killed during the July, 13, 2008, battle said they were briefed Wednesday on the decision not to reprimand the officers, the Associated Press reported.

Pakistan's top envoy, Foreign Minister Mian Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri, arrived in India on Tuesday for peace talks, after a deadly firebombing aboard a train connecting the two nations. At least 68 people burned to death in the Sunday night attack on the Samjhauta Express. Most of the dead were Pakistanis returning home on the New Delhi-Lahore line. "The incident only adds to urgency for us to cooperate," Kasuri said. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said staying "stead-fast in our commitment to normalize relations between our two countries" would be the best tribute to those slain.